I’ve been following Lambda, Holberton and 42. All three seem to have similar models: no upfront tuition, pay later out of your salary. The quality of education seems much higher than the typical “bootcamps”. I really like this.
I was a student of 42 for almost a year, before I switched to Holberton.
In my opinion 42 is a very good school for those who already have a lot of experience and want to learn a new skill set, without the need of any support. If you want to qualify for a free bed in their dorms, you have to complete very complicated projects in a very short amount of time, making it difficult for a beginner to succeed.
Holberton school does not only provide peer-to-peer learning, but also rely on the community local tech (and non-tech) community: mentors (SWE/SRE professionals), school alumni and students.
Even though there are no teachers, there is a constant support from the staff and the larger community to help you understand the concepts, build your career, especially for those who came with zero experience and completely different backgrounds.
As a student, you also have to work hard and have deadlines, but following any deadline, you get peer learning sessions and whiteboarding sessions to make sure everyone understands the concepts. We have to re-create the projects from scratch but on the whiteboard, explaining every single step and algorithms, asking and answering the questions of everyone. This way, they ensure that everyone can be successful.
School 42 is a great school, but was simply not the right choice for me and in my opinion, Holberton School is a much better choice. But as always, it depends on your background, challenge, context and motivation.
I never heard about Lambda, so I can’t comment. Seems like a great program too, but online.
I am a student at 42, and I have to correct you on one really important point : 42 does not have anything as "pay later out of salary". It is a tuition free school period. Also it is not remote, you need to go to the school everyday, and they provide free accommodation as long as you reach the targeted progress each month.
As far as we know there is no plan to make money. It has been founded and funded by a French billionaire who did not like the way traditional high education works.
I am personally really happy with the program, I started 3 years ago and there are so many different projects and different paths you can choose that I am planning on staying there for some time
Has anyone compared those three schools?